A big piece of history lies buried beneath a growing jungle of weeds and overgrowth in South Dallas near the intersections of Malcolm X Boulevard and Pine Street. There, inside a 60-acre section of private land, is a wealth of hidden history about the founding fathers and the early captains of Dallas’ industry and commerce.

Oakland Cemetery is one of this city’s lost treasures. If you’ve wanted the story behind the names on many of the city’s most prominent buildings and streets, Oakland Cemetery probably has the answers. Even though the streets might not lead to South Dallas, the gravesites do: Ervay, Crowdus, Kiest, Zang, Abrams, Thornton.

You won’t find a Bealls department store in southern Dallas, but the family patriarch’s gravesite is certainly there. So too are various titans of Texas news media: A.H. Belo Jr. and George Dealey. The Hobbys, patriarchs of the former lieutenant governor’s family and the Houston television and newspaper empire, found a final resting place in Oakland Cemetery.

Caretaker Harold Williams is a walking history book. He clears away random headstones, then recites stories of Confederate fighters, George Washington’s baptism, the first Trinity River barge navigation to the Gulf of Mexico, or the mystery behind ghost sightings at White Rock Lake.

Oakland also holds the gravesite of Santos Rodriguez, the 12-year-old who was handcuffed and gunned down by a Dallas police officer in 1973, a historic turning point in local race relations.

Williams is fighting a losing battle against the overgrowth that is gradually consuming the headstones and rendering these historical gems inaccessible. “We’ve been abandoned, more or less, along with the neighborhood,” he says.

Contrast Oakland’s weedy pathways and crispy-dry grass to the Shearith Israel Jewish cemetery near Fair Park, where modern sprinklers and maintenance workers keep the grounds clean, green and inviting. Instead of serving as a place of honor for this city’s founding fathers, Oakland serves as a monument to neglect.

This is one place where business leaders of northern Dallas — many of whose ancestors are buried there — have ample personal motivation to donate time and money to help turn an eyesore into an inviting attraction for visitors.

Oakland Cemetery is the first of two new additions this month to our 10 Drops in the Bucket list of small but pernicious neighborhood detractors that drag down the quality of life in southern Dallas and add to this city’s north-south gap. To donate money to Oakland, a registered nonprofit organization, visit its website at oaklandcemeterydallas.com.

No. 1 (Completed) In the 2500 block of St. Clair, longtime problems with several abandoned and gutted houses have largely been resolved. The city’s attention in demolishing the worst houses and cleaning up overgrown lots has helped elevate St. Clair to an acceptable status. It’s not perfect, and lots of substandard properties remain, but it’s time to move on.

No. 2 (Completed) A large storage shed and abandoned property at 6106 Carlton Garrett St. had been ransacked and served as a giant trash storage bin. The city contacted the owner, who demolished the building and cleaned up the trash.

No. 3 (Improving) The Lee G. Bilal building on Second and Carpenter avenues in South Dallas has been an eyesore and code-enforcement problem for years. The owners have boarded over the building’s 40-plus broken windows, but a collapsing structure in the rear of the building still needs to be addressed.

No. 4 (Improving) An abandoned 66-unit apartment complex at 3015 Grand Ave. in South Dallas, next to a U.S. Postal Service center and five blocks from Fair Park, has stood for months as a war-zone-like monstrosity. Multiple wings are damaged by fire, and the roof is collapsing. Looters have destroyed most units. The City Council recently purchased the property, and efforts are under way to abate asbestos inside so it can be demolished.

Nos. 5 and 6 (Stalled) An abandoned and burned-out house at 2403 Fordham Road, near the VA Medical Center, and a tree-damaged house at 4323 Jamaica St. near Fair Park have sat for months unfixed and deteriorating. Bulk trash is being dumped in the front yard of the Jamaica Street house. The Fordham Road house is being abated for asbestos and demolition could occur this month.

Nos. 7 and 8 (Stalled) Multiple abandoned houses have been invaded and gutted in two South Dallas neighborhoods. In the 5000 block of Colonial, vagrants and drug gangs are a constant threat and have taken up residence in a nearby empty lot. At the intersection of Swanson Street and Spring Avenue, three abandoned houses are steadily decaying.

No. 9 (Stalled) At an industrial property at 2808 E. 11th St., the owner conducted various unauthorized activities, including auto and truck storage and junk-motor collection. The site is directly across the street from the Columbia Packing Co., which was closed after its owners dumped pig blood into nearby Cedar Creek. City authorities cited the owners at 2808 for numerous violations, and most of the property was cleaned up and cleared out. There’s only one problem: The owner appears to have moved some of the junk about 400 yards away to the former site of Oak Cliff Metals, once a major neighborhood detractor.

No. 10 (Worsening) At the southbound Second Avenue on-ramp to C.F. Hawn Freeway sits a makeshift auto junkyard atop bare ground. The owner has previously been cited in court for failure to pay taxes on another property. Since this item was added to our list two months ago, a truck trailer has been parked outside with home furnishings and clothing spilling out from inside. There are no signs the owner is cleaning up the growing mess, and the city attorney’s office cannot identify a current business permit for the property.

In addition to the Oakland Cemetery, we are adding this “drop” to our August list:

Parts of West Dallas are rapidly transforming from a forgotten industrial wasteland to an inviting mixture of shops, restaurants, hardware stores and job-generating warehouses. Near the intersection of Singleton Boulevard and Pluto Street, however, the wasteland thrives in a collection of recycling facilities with questionable refuse-handling practices. One particular parcel, at 3312-3808 Pluto St., contains mountains of discarded glass, old truck trailers, tires and junk strewn across various unfenced fields. When we notified City Hall that this would be added to the list, it quickly ordered a cleanup and issued code citations.

Need help in your area? Send your ideas for future drops in the bucket to southerndallas@dallasnews.com.